Laos Holds Rally to Mark National Day

   HANOI (Dec. 3) XINHUA - A rally was held Tuesday in 
Vientiane to  mark the 22nd anniversary of the 
establishment of the Lao People's  Democratic Republic, the 
official Lao news agency KPL, monitored here,  reported 
today.
   Khampane Philavong, member of the Lao People's 
Revolutionary Party  Central Committee and mayor of 
Vientiane Prefecture, urged all Lao  compatriots locally 
and abroad to exercise greater patriotism,  strengthen 
unity, devote their physical and mental efforts to the 
cause  of defence and construction of the capital of 
Vientiane as well as the  entire nation.
   He also stressed the significance of the national day, 
describing it as  a political event of great significance, 
and a milestone of great  victory for the Lao people.
   

Lao National Day Marked in Beijing

   BEIJING (Dec. 1) XINHUA - The Chinese People's 
Association for  Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFC) 
and the China-Laos Friendship  Association held a banquet 
here this evening to mark the 22nd  anniversary of the 
founding of the Lao People's Democratic Republic.
   CPAFC Vice-President Su Guang, President of the China-
Laos Friendship  Association Liu Chun as well as Lao 
Ambassador Soukthavone Keola and  his wife were among those 
attending the banquet.
   

Study: Hong Kong Has Freest Economy; Laos, Least Free  

By Slobodan Lekic / Associated Press Writer
   WASHINGTON (AP) -- China's takeover of Hong Kong has not 
damaged the former British colony's standing as the world's 
freest economy, says an analysis of the economies of 156 
nations released today.
   The top five places in a survey compiled by the Heritage 
Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank, and The 
Wall Street Journal were unchanged from last year. They are 
held by Hong Kong, Singapore, Bahrain, New Zealand and the 
United States and Switzerland, which tied for fifth.
   "Countries that have the most economic freedom also have 
higher rates of economic growth and are more prosperous 
than those having less economic freedom," the analysis 
said.
   The annual study rates the freedom of national economies 
on a scale of 1 to 5 in several categories: trade, tax, 
monetary and banking policy; government intervention in the 
economy; capital flows and foreign investment; wage and 
price controls property rights; regulation, and size of the 
black market.
   Countries were classified into four categories according 
to their average score: free, mostly free, mostly unfree 
and repressed. China, which placed 120th, fell into the 
"mostly unfree" category.
   "So far, there is little evidence that becoming part of 
China will alter Hong Kong's economic structure 
significantly," the report said. Hong Kong scored 1.25, 
with 1 being a perfect score and 5 the worst.
   The report summed up freedom in Hong Kong's economy by 
declaring: "There continues to be little government 
interference in the marketplace, taxes remain low and 
predictable, increases in government spending are linked 
closely with economic growth, foreign trade still is free, 
and regulations, in addition to being transparent, continue 
to be applied both uniformly and consistently."
   North Korea, Laos and Cuba had the world's least-free 
economies, all scoring 5 on the analysts' scale, followed 
closely by Iraq, Bosnia, Vietnam, Libya and Iran.
   In Vietnam's case, enthusiasm by the international 
investment community has been unable to overcome a 
combination of official corruption, inadequate foreign 
investment laws and minimal protection of private property, 
the report said.
   Regionally, economic freedoms posted their largest gain 
in Latin America, with 12 of the 20 nations listed in the 
study becoming more economically free during the past year.
   In contrast, sub-Saharan Africa remained the 
economically least free area of the world, with only seven 
of the 38 nations ranked in the "mostly free" category. 
Swaziland had the freest economy on the continent, the 
survey found.
   But the world's poorest nations need not resign 
themselves to inferior economic growth rates, the report 
said.
   "Poverty is largely a condition governments impose on 
people with ill-conceived and repressive economic 
policies," said Heritage Foundation analyst Bryan Johnson, 
a co-author of the study.